Multiple card chains for jacquard loom



April 7, 1970 P. D. EMERSON MULTIPLE CARD cmuus FOR JACQUARD LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 1, 1968 FIG. I.

INVENTOR. PAUL D. EMERSON BY ATTORNEY April 7, 1970 P. D. EMERSON MULTIPLE CARD CHAINS FOR JACQUARD LOOM 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 1, 1968 INVENTOR. PAUL D. EMERSON /W ATTORNEY A ril 7, 1-970 P. D. EMERSON 3, 1

MULTIPLE CARD CHAINS FOR JACQUARD 1100M Filed Feb 1, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 lljlflgurg wi (1- r INVENTOR. PAUL D. EMERSON ATTORNEY April 7, 1970 P. D. EMERSON 3,504,711

MULTIPLE CARD CHAINS FOR JACQUARD LOOM Filed Feb. 1, 1968 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 5.

INVENTOR. PAUL D. EMERSON ATTORNEY United States Tatent O 3,504,711 MULTIPLE CARD CHAINS FOR JACQUARD LOOM Paul D. Emerson, Raleigh, N.C., assignor to Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Mo., a corporation of Delaware Filed Feb. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 702,295 Int. Cl. D03c 3/00, /00, 19/00 US. Cl. 139-59 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE In the weaving of certain orthogonal and fiat fabrics, at least two Jacquard card chains are utilized simultaneously to actuate a single Jacquard needle system whereby the number of Jacquard cards required to program a given pattern is substantially reduced.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention Description of prior art For weaving patterns of all types a Jacquard head is attached to a regular loom. The hooks of the Jacquard head raise and lower the individual warp yarns to form the shed through which the filling yarn passes. Since normally there is one book for each warp yarn in an individual pattern repeat, the control of the warp yarns is limited to the number of hooks with which the Jacquard head is equipped. To program a given pattern, the original design is drawn in the form of a sketch, and then the design is charted on ruled pattern paper, which is used as a guide for punching the holes in the Jacquard cards. Each card represents one pick or one filling in the fabric.

The weave takes as many cards as are required for one repeat of the patern. For example, if the filling weaves in fifty times (meaning fifty picks) before the pattern begins to repeat itself, fifty cards are needed. The cards change after each pick, and by the time the pattern is completed the first card is in position to repeat the operation.

The cards are laced together in a continuous chain and mounted on the machine. The Jacquard mechanism includes an oblong, perforated index cylinder around which the cards rotate. An arrangement of metal needles and hooks coordinated with each Jacquard card raises the predetermined warp yarns to form the shed.

Within the Jacquard head, horizontal to the cylinder, are the needles. There are as many needles as there are available hole positions on the card. Lacing through eyes in each of these needles are hooks. The bottoms of the hooks rest on a grate. The shape of the tops of the hooks makes it possible to raise them by means of blades or knives operating up and down. Cords (or wires) fasten into the bottoms of the hooks and connect the wires to mail eyes through which pass the warp yarns. In operation, one Jacquard card is in position on the index cylinder, which presses it against the horizontal needles. Under pressure, some needles enter the perforated holes. The needles that strike blank spots where there ice are no holes are pushed black by the pressure of the index cylinder, and the hooks connected to these needles are pressed back beyond the action of the rising blades. Since the hooks are not raised, the cords attached to them and to the mail eyes, as well as the warp yarns they control, remain down to form the lower part of the shed.

The needles that have entered the holes remain stationary or forward. Their hooks contact the knives and are raised. The hooks, in turn, through the connecting cords, raise the mail eyes. The warp yarns laced through these mail eyes are also raised, forming the upper part of the shed through which the filling yarn passes to weave in one pick.

The index cylinder, which rotates one quarter of a turn for each pick of the filling yarn, carries the chain of cards, one at a time, against the needles; and the particular needles that enter holes in the card or are pushed back when pressed by the index cylinder determine which warp yarns form the top or the bottom of the shed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the weaving of orthogonal fabrics and in the weaving of fiat fabrics having certain variations of repetitive designs, the number of cards required to program a particular pattern design may run into the thousands since each dilferent pick requires a different card. In some applications as will hereinafter be pointed out, it is possible to substantially reduce the number of cards required by employing at least two separate Jacquard card chains simultaneously on the same Jacquard head. In the weaving of fiat fabrics, a basic design is programmed by a first card chain, which hereinafter will be referred to as the basic pattern card chain. The majority of these cards are stored in a card bank and proceed to a first index cylinder in sequence to form a basic pattern. The basic pattern card chain for convenience is looped around additional card chains, hereinafter referred to as the multiplier card chains which are fed to the first index cylinder at a slower rate and generally will have relatively few cards. The multiplier card chains adapt the basic pattern as programmed by the basic pattern card chain to be varied by blocking certain holes and preventing the raising of the corresponding heddles so that those warp yarns do not form a part of the upper portion of the shed. For example, consider a two card chain system wherein the basic pattern card chain comprises 200 cards and a single multiplier card chain comprises 30 cards. It can be readily seen that the total number of cards in this system is 230 which represents the 200 cards of the basic pattern card chain and the 30 cards of the multiplier card chain. Since the conventional Jacquard control mechanism requires one card for each pick, the total number of cards required to program a pattern of this type would have been 6,000.

In the weaving of orthogonal or three-dimensional fabrics, picks are required not only length-wise but also in depth. If the orthogonal fabric were in the shape of a trapezoid and thus requiring a separate card for each pick throughout the length of the trapezoidal fabric, it can be seen that the number of cards required to program such a pattern could easily exceed 30,000, 40,000 or even 50,000 depending upon the length of the trapezoid and its thickness. In the weaving of an orthogonal trapesoidal fabric, a multiplier card chain may have, for example, 1,000 cards to program the increasing width of the trapezoidal shape starting from a given base and a basic pattern card chain havnig 40 cards for programming the basic repeat pattern of the filling yarns to which the multiplier card chain adds warp ends to achieve the trapezoidal configuration. Thus, by employing two card chains simultaneously the total number of cards required would be 1,040 whereas to program such an orthogonal fabric on a conventional Jacquard controlled loom the total number of cards would be 40,000 since there would be 40,000 different picks.

Therefore, an object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for substantially reducing the number of cards required by a Jacquard head to program a given pattern.

Another object of this invention is to provide a Jacquard head with at least a second card chain which is adapted to significantly reduce the number of cards required to program a particular pattern.

A further object of this invention is to provide a Jacquard head with at least two card chains for programming the weaving of orthogonal fabrics.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a Jacquard head with at least two chain cards simultaneously wherein the first chain card is adapted to program one pick of a repetitive pattern and the additional chain cards are adapted to selectively alter the pattern as established by the first chain card.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a method for weaving orthogonal and flat fabrics by means of a Jacquard controlled loom utilizing at least two card chains simultaneously per Jacquard head.

These and other objects will become apparent when the following detailed description is read in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a schematic view of a Jacquard head showing the apparatus capable of handling two card chains;

FIGURE 2 is a second embodiment schematic illustration showing a Jacquard head having been altered and adapted to handle two card chains;

FIGURE 3 is a perspective view of a trapezoidal orthogonal fabric which may be Woven by a Jacquard controlled loom employing two card chains;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged partial sectioned view taken along lines 4-4 of FIGURE 3 and showing a plurality of picks being embedded in a matrix of stutfer warps and locking warps;

FIGURE 5 is a partial sectioned view taken along lines 55 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 6 is a pattern which may be produced by the apparatus of this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT In reference to FIGURE 1, the basic pattern card chain 10 which is comprised of a plurality of cards 11 is supported by index cylinder 12 and guide 13 and forms a card bank 14. Guide 13 is mounted on the machine (not shown) by any conventional means. Index cylinder 12 is substantially square in cross-section and is mounted on shaft 15 for rotation. Each surface of index cylinder 12 is provided with a plurality of holes, one for each needle as will be hereinafter described, and with a pair of locating pins 16. As shown in FIGURE 1, the basic pattern card chain 10 is provided with a plurality of cards and is adapted to program the basic pattern which may be varied by the multiplier card chain 18.

The multiplier card chain 18 is looped around the basic pattern card chain 10; the reverse arrangement may also be employed wherein the basic pattern card chain 10 is looped around the multiplier card chain 18. The multiplier card chain 18 is supported by a feed cylinder 19 and guide 20. The feed cylinder 19 is similar to index cylinder 12 with the exception that perforations are not required. Cylinder 19 is mounted for rotation on shaft 21. Each surface of cylinder 19 is provided with a pair of locating pins 22 which receive the individual cards comprising the multiplier card chain 18, and, upon the turning of cylinder 19 by means of shaft 21, the cards are forwarded to index cylinder 12.

The remainder of the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 1 may be found on conventional Jacquard machines and operates in substantially the same manner. A plurality of needles 23 matching the holes in index cylinder 12 is provided. Each of the needles 23 is connected to a selected hook 24. Each hook 24 is connected by means of a wire 25 to a top coupling 26. Top coupling 26 terminates at a mail eye 27 through which passes a warp yarn. Top coupling 26 passes through a comberboard 28 and has the lower end thereof connected to a lingoe 29 which normally maintains hook 24 on grate bar 30.

In those instances where it is advantageous to employ a plurality of multiplier card chains, the additional multiplier card chains could be provided by the addition of additional feed cylinders 19 and guides 20 cooperating to feed the additional multiplier card chains. The additional feed cylinders could be disposed in substantially vertical alignment with cylinders 12 and 19 and the multiplier card chains associated therewith could be disposed to envelop card chains 10 and 18. Additional card banks similar to card bank 14 could be supplied if necessary.

In operation, a card from the basic pattern card chain 10 is located in position by means of index cylinder 12 and a selected card from the multiplier card chain 18 is lowered into alignment with the selected card of card chain 10 by the rotation of feed cylinder 19. Index cylinder 12 then moves laterally and presses the two cards against needles 23. Under pressure, some needles enter aligned perforated holes in index cylinder 12 by passing through the aligned holes in the adjacent cards. However, some needles may strike blank spots in the card chain 18 and others may pass through holes therein but strike blank spots in the card of card chain 10 whereupon the needles and their corresponding hooks are pushed back by the pressure of index cylinder 12 beyond the action of the rising blades 31. Since those corresponding hooks are not raised, their respective heddles remain down so that the warp yarns running through the mail eyes thereof form the lower part of the shed. The needles passing through aligned holes in the cards of both card chains 18 and 10 remain forward and their respective hooks contact knives 31 as they rise which in turn raise the heddles and also raise the warp yarns passing through the mail eyes so that the warp yarns form the upper portion of the shed through which the filling yarn passes to weave in one pick. For the next pick, index cylinder 12 is retracted from contact with needles 23 and is rotated one quarter of a turn. Such a procedure may be repeated until every card of card chain 10 has been programmed to form the basic pattern whereupon cylinder 19 is rotated one quarter of a turn to vary the basic pattern as is programmed by the basic pattern card chain 10 In reference to FIGURE 2 and the second embodiment of this invention, needless 40, hooks 41, knives 42, grates 43, wires 44, comberboard 45, top coupling 46, mail eyes 47, and lingoes 48, are of the common Jacquard design. Needle board 50 is provided with an extra thickness so that the ends of needles 40 do not protrude therethrough. A multiplier card chain 51 is provided with a plurality of cards 52 which forms card bank 53. The cards 52 which do not reside in card bank 53 are supported by the feed cylinder 60 and card guide 61. Cylinder 60 is substantially like any conventional index cylinder but with the absence of the holes which are adapted to receive the needles. Cylinder 54 is mounted for rotation on shaft 56 and each surface of cylinder 54 which engages cards 52 is provided with a pair of locating pins 57. If the basic pattern card chain 58 which is provided with a plurality of cards 59 contains fewer cards than does the multiplier card chain 51, it will normally reside within the confines of the multiplier card chain 51. However, card chain 58 may circumvolute card chain 51 as shown in FIGURE 1. The basic pattern card chain 58 is supported by the feed cylinder 60 and card guide 61. Cylider 60 is substantially like feed cylinder 54 and is mounted for rotation on shaft 62 and further is provided with a pair of locating pins 63 on each card engaging surface which pins contact the cards 59 of the basic pattern card chain 58. A needle actuator 65 is provided with pins 66 which are spring loaded by means of springs 67. Each needle 40 has in axial alignment with it a pin 66 which engages the needle by passing through selected cards of card chains 51 and 58. Normally, if the needles pass through the holes in the cards, the connecting heddles are raised by means of the knives engaging and lifting the respective hooks; however, in this embodiment, a pin 66 passing through aligned holes in cards 59 and 52 engages the particular needle in needle board 50 causing the needle 40 to move the hook 41 rearwardly, thus preventing engagement with knife 42 upon the raising thereof. Therefore, cards 52 and 59 which comprise card chains 51 and 58 must be punched so that a hole therein prevents the raising of the heddles and a blank space permits the raising thereof. Stated another way, the cards of this system are punched the reverse of what is normally the case where a blank space represents a stationary heddle while a hole represents the raising of a heddle.

In operation, feed cylinders 54 and 60 feed respective cards from card chains 51 and 58 into position between needle board 50 and needle actuator 65. Card aligning pins 70 engage the openings in the cards which are adapted to receive the locating pins on cylinders 54 and 60 as needle actuator 65 moves toward needles 40. Selected ones of pins 66 pass through aligned holes in the cards while others are prevented from penetrating the cards by blank spaces in either of the two cards. As needle actuator 65 moves toward needles 40 and selected pins 66 pass through the cards, the selected pins 66 engage the corresponding needles 40 in needle board 50 and move the needles rearwardly so that hooks 41 which are connected to the moving needles 40 clear the path of vertical travel of knives 42 so that upon the upward movement of knives 42 those selected hooks are not raised. Resultingly, those needles 40 which have not been engaged by pins 66 due to the blocking by the cards between the needles 40 and the needle actuator 65 remain stationary and the hooks associated therewith are raised by knives 42 which in turn raise the connecting heddles to raise the warp yarn upwardly to form the shed through which the filling yarn passes to weave in one pick. Needle actuator 65 then returns to its starting position whereupon cylinder 54 rotates one quarter of a revolution to position a new card between needle board 50 and needle actuator 65. For most patterns, the cards of the basic pattern card chain 51 make a complete cycle before feed cylinder 60 makes one quarter of a revolution to position a new card from the multiplier card chain 58 between needle board 50 and needle actuator 65.

Example -I The fabric as shown in FIGURE 6 was produced by means of the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 1. The basic pattern card chain 10 was comprised of 100 cards which represented the number of picks which were included in the basic pattern before a repetition occurred. The basic pattern in FIGURE 6 is shown as that from the letter A to the letter B whereupon the pattern is repeated for 11 more times to form the total fabric. The initial card of the multiplier card chain 18 included all of the holes of the cards of the basic pattern card chain 10 so that there was no interference in the weaving of the first basic pattern. Upon the initiation of the first repeat of the basic pattern, feed cylinder 19 was rotated one quarter of a revolution to position a second card of the multiplier card chain 18 into communication with needles 23. The second multiplier card had the equivalent number of holes of the total of the cards of the basic pattern card chain 10 with the exception that the last chevron pattern was blocked so that the corresponding warp yarns were not raised to allow the same to be woven into the fabric. The second through the last repeats of the basic pattern functioned in a similar manner to the first repeat in that in each repeat one more chevron was blocked from being woven into the fabric to give the design as appears in FIGURE 6.

Thus the total number of cards used by the apparatus of this invention was 112, of which 100 cards were in the basic pattern card chain 10 and 12 cards were in the multiplier card chain 18. If the conventional system were used, 1,200 cards would be required in a single chain in order to provide one card for each different pick before the cycle repeated itself for there are 100 picks in each basic pattern and 12 variations of the basic pattern.

Example II The trapezoidal orthogonal fabric as shown in FIGURE 3 was woven by using the apparatus as shown in FIGURE 2. The fabric consisted of 10 layers of picks as shown in FIGURES 4 and 5 which were surrounded by stuffer warps 81 in the longitudinal plane and locking warps 82 in the vertical plane. Locking warps 82 were provided by a separate beam from the stuffer warps. Beginning with end 83 of fabric 84 the total number of cards required to weave a pattern which is rectangular in shape as shown by end 83 would be 20 where the fabric is 10 picks deep since the pattern repeats itself after having gone vertically in one direction and returning vertically in the other to complete the weave. However, additional warp yarns were added to the fabric to provide the trapezoidal shape. A total of 1,000 warp yarns were added to each side of the end 83 sequentially so that 1,000 cards comprise the multiplier card chain 51. It can be seen that the basic pattern required 20 cards and the alterations of the basic pattern required 1,000 cards so that the total number of cards in the system was 1,020. Upon every repeat of basic pattern card chain 58, feed cylinder 54 rotated one quarter of a revolution to present a new card to needles 40. If the conventional Jacquard design were used to weave the orthogonal trapezoidal fabric as shown in FIGURE 3, the total number of cards required would have been 20,000 since there were 20,000 different variations of the basic pattern.

It can be seen that many variations of the two embodiments may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed herein.

What I claim is:

1. In combination with a Jacquard head having heddles for receiving warp yarn, hooks connected to said heddles, knives for raising selected hooks and heddles, and needles for selecting the hooks to be raised by the knives, an apparatus for activating said needles comprising a plurality of card chains each containing a plurality of perforated cards wherein a selected card from each card chain being adapted to be positioned contiguous and parallel each to the other to form a card program, said card program being adjacent said needles, means for independently forwardly each of said card chains whereby said card chains are adapted to move relative each other to form a variety of said card programs and means for activating selected needles in accordance with each of said card programs.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein a first card chain is supported by a first feed means and chain guide and wherein a second card chain is supported by a second feed means and a chain guide, said first and second feed means advancing said first and second card chains at preselected rates to said means for actuating said needles.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said second card chain is positioned to circumvolute said first card chain.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said second card chain is provided with the greater number of cards.

5. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said first card chain is provided with the greater number of cards.

6. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said first feed means is an index cylinder,,said index cylinder having performed and flat card receiving surfaces defining the side walls thereof, said index cylinder being positioned a distance said needles and being movable toward said needles to force one of said card programs against said needles whereby selected needles penetrate said card program and enter aligned perforations in said index cylinder surface to allow communicating heddles to be raised by said knives.

7. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein said means for actuating selected needles is a needle actuator, said needle actuator being separated from said needles by said card program and being comprised of a housing having a housing wall defining a cavity, a plurality of pins mounted in said cavity, and extending outwardly through said housing wall toward said needles, each of said pins being in axial alignment with a selected needle, spring means associated with each of said pins to normally maintain said pins in an outwardly extended position and means for moving said needle actuator toward said needles whereby selected pins pass through said card program to engage said axially aligned needles with the remainder of said pins being blocked by said card program from contacting their aligned needles.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 wherein a needle board having perforations is mounted adjacent said card program and is adapted to receive the ends of said needles in said perforations, said perforations receiving said pins having passed through said card program and serving as a guide to insure contact between said pins and needles.

9. A process for forming a shed on a loom controlled by a Jacquard head having in cooperation a plurality of needles and hooks and associated heddles comprising the steps of:

(a) providing said Jacquard head with a plurality of card chains each of which being adapted for independent movement along separate predetermined paths, said card chains having a plurality of connected cards;

(b) forming a card program by placing a selected card from a first card chain adjacent a selected card from each additional card chain;

(c) presenting said card program to said needles; and

(d) actuating selected needles in accordance with said card program.

10. The process of claim 9 wherein said shed is formed by moving said card program against said needles, said needles engaging said card program thereby determining the configuration of said shed.

11. The process of claim 9 wherein said shed is formed by the raising of selected heddles by moving a plurality of pins each of which being in axial alignment with a selected needle toward said card program with a preselected number of said pins passing through said card program and engaging said axially aligned needles, said heddles being raised are those in communication with needles being in axial alignment with those pins failing to penetrate said card program.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 343,113 6/1886 Crompton et a]. l3959 X 699,658 3/1901 Paton l39322 743,943 10/ 1903 Smith 139-61 X 1,526,643 2/1925 Penninger et al l3959 2,941,551 6/1960 Ballard l3959 FOREIGN PATENTS 445,314 8/1912 France.

331,229 4/1921 Germany.

661,467 11/ 1951 Great Britain.

OTHER REFERENCES German application 1,168,138, Apr. 16, 1964. German application 1,260,394, Feb. 1, 1968.

' JAMES KEE CHI, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. l3961, 317 

